“In this meeting, I said, we must win the war at any cost. We must do whatever we need to for victory. This is a national issue and not a party problem, so let no one raise one’s partisan views. Talking of ‘your army’ amounts to saying that the army protecting our country is a foreign force. Then again, it is surprising to say ‘Let us define our war aims’ when we have to fight the enemy to defend our country. It is for those who commit aggression on others to define their aims. Our aim is clear as day light. It is victory, nothing short of total victory. It is to make the aggressor bite the dust.Talking of defining war aims would amount to hindering the war efforts”. – Shri Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar (Shri Guruji), during the all-party consultative committee meeting called by Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on September 6, 1965, to discuss the Bharat-Pakistan War situation, as quoted in SHRI GURUJI – Pioneer of A New Era, A biography of M. S. Golwalkar (1906-1973), second Sarsanghachalak of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, by C P Bhishikar, Translated by SUDHAKAR RAJE, SAHITYA SINDHU PRAKASHANA, Bangalore, 1999, p. 138
Since the inhuman and targeted Pahalgam terror attack, the winds of war against Pakistan have been blowing. The Union Government, under the leadership of PM Modi, has already taken significant steps such as holding the Indus Water Treaty 1960 in abeyance, downgrading the diplomatic ties, deporting Pakistani citizens and blocking the airspace. Everyone is expecting decisive action against the perpetrators and their masters who are involved in this brutal massacre in which at least 26 Hindu lives were lost. Does war start only
after the official declaration? What should be our role in such a situation?
Since 1947, Pakistan has followed the foreign policy of exporting terrorism to Bharat as denying the civilisational identity was the sole basis for the Partition based on Islamism. The society and national objectives are tuned to spread hatred towards Bharat and ‘Kafirs’ all over the world. The Kabayali infiltration of 1947 was nothing but the first attempt to craft the terror promotion policy – taking inspiration from invaders like Mohammad Bin Qasim to annihilate practitioners of ‘polytheism and idolatry’ in all forms. The creation of Jammat-e-Islami, Al-Fatah, Master Cell, Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and even promoting Hurriyat Conference as a freedom struggle were just continuation of the same template. The recent avatars of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and more fancy Communist titles like The Resistance Front are part of the same terrorist insecurity. The very existence of Pakistan depends on this destructive idea based on radicalism. Hence, it is better that sooner we get rid of the misconception that terrorism started in the 1980s or that war will start when the official announcement is made. The war has been imposed on us since Partition, and now, it has reached a decisive stage.
The political leadership and Armed Forces will make decisions based on strategic objectives and assessment. While coming up with ideas and policy suggestions, we should also trust our leadership and stand firmly together as a nation. Constructive criticism is inevitable in a democracy, but it should not be at the behest of inimical designs. Not just the people, the onus of playing a responsible role lies on the media as well as the social media during the war times. While reporting news, the approach of the media should be national based on our strategic objectives. Information and communication warfare is an essential strategy in modern-day wars. The foreign-funded media houses, NGOs and even some individuals will deliberately or unknowingly act as a tool of the enemy’s misinformation campaign. The fake narrative about alleged attacks on ‘Kashmiri students’ all over Bharat was part of the same mind game which platforms like Al-Jazeera and The Wire promoted. We should be very cautious about such a ploy. Ensuring unity and integrity of the nation and not allowing the enemy to apply the divisive agenda should be our collective and focussed strategy. As the Second RSS Sarsanghachalak Sri Guruji had pointed out, “Modern wars, be it remembered, are total wars. They are not merely pitched battles between armies. Everyone, right from the scientist and industrialist to the labourer and farmer, will have to work harder and longer in a spirit of national dedications, shelving aside all other considerations of personal and group interests, disputes and claims for the time being”. The war has been on….military and government agencies are working on their strategies. Every Bharatiya must ponder over the question of whether we are ready with our role to end the evil of ‘terroristan’.
